Knowledge Base

Error Using Array with Range Method

Article ID: 149240

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q149240

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, you can store cell addresses in a user-defined array. If you attempt to select the entire array of cells using the Range method in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications code, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Run-time error '1004':
Range method of Application class failed

-or-

Run-time error '1004':
Method 'Range' of object '_Global' failed

CAUSE

The way in which cell addresses are stored in an array may cause the Range method to fail when you select the entire array of cells. To illustrate this, the following array named myArray loads an array of cell addresses and allows the Range method to select the entire range:

   Dim myArray
   myArray = Selection.Address
   Range(myArray).Select

Using this statement stores the selected range to the myArray array in the format of:

   myArray("A1, A3, A5, A7")

However, the following Visual Basic for Applications method stores the selected cells to the array and selecting the array results in the macro error stated above:

   Option Base 1

   Sub ArrayExample()
       Dim myArray()
       For counter = 1 To 10
           ReDim Preserve myArray(counter)
           myArray(counter) = Cells(counter, 1)
       Next counter
       Range(myArray).Select
   End Sub

Using this looping procedure stores the selected range to the array myArray in the format of:

   myArray("A1", "A3", "A5", "A7")

This format causes the Range method to fail when selecting the entire array of addresses.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. Use a range Object instead of an array to allow the entire array to be selected as in the following example:

   Dim dataRange
   Set dataRange = Nothing
   For Each x In Selection
       If dataRange Is Nothing Then
           Set dataRange = x
       Else
           Set dataRange = Union(dataRange, x)
       End If
   Next x
   dataRange.Select

REFERENCES

For more information about arrays, from the Visual Basic Editor, click Contents And Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Excel 97 Help, type the following text

arrays

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Declaring arrays" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

For more information about Arrays or Ranges in Microsoft Excel 5.0, click the Search button in Help and type:

Array

-or-

Range object

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: 8.00 XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5 non-contiguous discontiguous XL

Keywords: kbdtacode kberrmsg kbprb kbprogramming KB149240